Adjustable cigarette filter



Aug. 16, 1960 s. BALKIND ADJUSTABLE CIGARETTE FILTER Filed April 1, 1957IN V EN TOR. Solomon Balk/inch BY ATTO R N E X Patented Aug. 16, 1960ADJUSTABLE CIGARETTE nn rnn Solomon Balkind, 109 S. Sycamore Ave., LosAngeles, Calif.

Filed Apr. 1, 1957, Ser. No. 649,854

1 Claim. Cl. 131-10 My invention relates to filters for cigarettes, andmore particularly to an adjustable filter for cigarettes, and thegeneral object of my invention is to provide the most effective way ofscreening out tar and nicotine from a cigarette during the process ofsmoking the same. My filter is not a mouthpiece nor a tube, and it isnot attached to the end of a cigarette. My filter is placed inside, atthe inner end of a cigarette, and is covered with tobacco or aconventional filter material.

The results of my filter are astonishing. It will actually extract tarfrom a cigarette which, so far as known to the applicant no filter nowon the market will do.

The principal idea of my invention is that the smoke of a cigarette mustbe trapped inside of the same by an installed absorber, by means ofwhich the tar and nicotine will be etfectively screened out of acigarette thereby, which, of course, is visible from the outside and maybe definitely observed and determined by the smoker of the cigarette.

My new filter will reduce the drawing power of the smoker of thecigarette, however, but the smoker can, upon lighting the cigarette,adjust his drawing power to his own liking. Anyway, my cigarette willdraw as easily as any cigarette on the market today, whether filtered ornot, but the smoker of my cigarette may adjust the filter himself forbetter drawing power, and such adjustment will not aifect the filtrationof the cigarette in any way thereafter.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear hereinafter asthis specification progresses.

My invention is illustrated in the annexed drawing, forming a part ofthis specification, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of my invention shown embodied in a cigarettepartly broken away to show details of construction.

Fig. 2 is a view partly in longitudinal section and partly in sideelevation of my invention.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of :Fig. 2 taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section of Fig. 5 taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a View like Fig. 2, except that the tar and nicotine absorberis shown in a different position.

Fig. 6 is a view of a modification of my invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, in which the same parts ofmy invention are designated by the same reference numerals in all of thefigures thereof, my invention is shown applied to a cigarette designated1, on one end of which is formed a mouthpiece 2, such as a paper or corktip.

Within the inner end portion of the cigarette 1, surrounded by themouthpiece 2, I place my tar and nicotine absorber 3, which comprises around imperforate disk 4 made from liquid absorbing paper of apredetermined weight, and covered completely with cotton 5. The diskabsorber 3 is of slightly less diameter than the inner side of the paperwrapper 6 of the cigarette 1, which provides a narrow annular space 7surrounding said absorber 3 between the peripheral edge of said absorberand the inner side of the wrapper 6 of the cigarette 1, through whichannular space and the cotton 5 in said space and around the absorber 3,as well as through said absorber, tar and nicotine are drawn with thesmoke in smoking the cigarette, which augments the filtering of the tarand nicotine from the cigarette in smoking the same. Within thecylindrical wrapper 6 of my cigarette 1, forwardly of the absorber 3 Iplace cigarette tobacco 8 and in the inner end of my cigarette inwardlyof said absorber I place a suitable filler material 9.

In the form of my invention shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawing, Iscore the absorber disk 4 diametrically with a diametrical score line10, on which line the absorber disk 4 may be bent into a V-shapeconfiguration.

As illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawing, the absorber disk '4 as shownin Fig. 4 of the drawing, is placed in the inner end portion of mycigarette, as aforesaid, and the smoker, after lighting my cigarette maythen regulate the drawing power of smoking the cigarette, by applying alittlepressure with his thumb and fingers to opposite sides of thecigarette wrapper at points at opposite sides of the score line It) ofsaid disk 4 of the absorber 3, and upon bending said cigarette wrapper 6and the adjacent edges of said absorber disk 4 also inwardly, atopposite sides of the score line 10, said absorber disk is bent intosubstantially V-shape form, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, in whichform said disk '4 remains, when the smoker releases his thumb andfingers from the cigarette wrapper 6, while the cigarette wrapperexpands outwardly back into its normal cylindrical form, whereby theannular space 7 between the periphery of said disk opposite said scoreline 10 and the inner side of the cigarette wrapper 6 is enlargedopposite said score line 10, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, thusenlarging the drawing space 7 between the absorber disk 4- and thecigarette wrapper 6 opposite score line 10' (Fig. 4), and increasing thedrawing power of the smoker of my cigarette. In other Words the drawingpower of the smoker of my cigarette may be varied by varying the spacebetween the outer edge of the absorber 3 and the inner side of thecigarette wrapper 6, as aforesaid.

In the modification of my invention shown in Fig. 6 the disk 4 of theabsorber 3 is placed only on the rear or inner side of the cotton 5.

No thimble, open or covered, nor any cotton plug, strainer or tube isused in the practice of my invention. It involves a completely newmethod and operation, with amazing results in screening out tar andnicotine, of which there is no suggestion in any filtered cigarette nowon the market. The proof of applicants claim can be found inside of thesmoked butt of' a cigarette in which my filter structure is placed. Itconsists of a brownish heavy liquid, which scientists refer to as tar inburning tobacco. This is the suspected chemical which makes the smoker avictim of lung cancer.

By means of my cigarette of the tar may be re-' moved from a cigarette.

I claim:

In a cigarette structure, the combination of: a paper tube having twosections of tobacco filling therein of unequal size the smaller being atthe mouth of said tube;

an imperforate, substantially circular, liquid absorbent disk locatedbetween said sections, said disk being of a diameter less than theinterior of said tubewhereby the peripheral edge of said disk defines anarrow annular space between it and the inner wall of said tube; and amass of fibrous filtering material completely surrounding said disk andbeing disposed on both sides thereof and in said narrow annular spacewhereby said fibrous mass fills said space to support said tube wallaround said space and locate said disk with its edge in spaced relationwith 5 the inner surface of said tube, said fibrous mass in said spacealso serving to filter smoke by-passing said disk, the size of theannular space being adjustable by external pressure on said tube in theregion of said disk in order to enlarge said space by compressing saiddisk While still 10 maintaining said space filled with said fibrousmass.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

